ELIMINATION 7 – BEATEN BY THE WIND.
It was still windy and they wanted to push to get the first round done of Elimination 7. I once again opted for my favourite 6.2/90/32 combination and, following a good first gybe, I ended up sitting in fourth. Like I had done in the other heats, I decided to drop low to get the inside line into the outside gybe, but this time it went terribly wrong. As I dived low the wind not only dropped, but also swung, meaning I was struggling to stay planing and even struggling to make the mark. Two guys went flying past at this point and that was it, game over. Pretty frustrating as it was a massive hole in the wind, but that is how it goes. I should have been on my 7.0 really. The positive was that Dunkerbeck fell at the last mark and I was able to pass him and finish fifth. Meaning a 2 out of 2 record against the champ! Annoyingly they cancelled the next heat and called it a day.
DAY 5 – ELIMINATION 8 – LAST CHANCE.
After yesterday’s mistake I decided to go big and went on the 7.0 even though the wind was more or less the same as the day before. I was ready to put it on the medium 105 board, but everyone around me was taking small boards, so I went with that, which I think was a mistake. I had a reasonable start, but by the first mark I was in my usual sixth. I made it to fifth at the first gybe and then went on the attack. Every reach and every gybe I was closing in on Cousins, putting him under pressure and positioning myself to attack. Finally, on the ultimate gybe, he went wide and I could sweep in and take him on the inside. I was ahead and upwind, which should have meant victory was in the bag. I pushed him down low, but Yilmazer, who was in third, decided to cover us and dropped low himself. Suddenly I got caught in his dirty air and was struggling to make the finish line myself. Cousins took advantage and started pushing from below and I got sandwiched in the middle. In the end Cousins took fourth by a couple of metres, leaving me out. I was pretty gutted, as that was the last race and therefore my last chance to make the losers’ final. Maybe if I had been on my 105 that might have made the difference, but you never know?
